Boxer, Webb target Wall Street bonuses

[kpete]

Source: The Hill


Boxer, Webb target Wall Street bonuses
By J. Taylor Rushing - 02/04/10 12:18 PM ET

Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) unveiled a bill Thursday to tax extravagant bonuses paid out by financial firms that have benefited from taxpayer assistance.

The Taxpayer Fairness Act would apply only to Wall Street firms and banks that received at least $5 billion from the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Specifically, it would impose a 50 percent excise tax on any 2009 bonuses paid to employees at those firms that received a salary greater than $400,000. The tax would apply to the portion of the bonus that exceeds that figure — which Boxer and Webb picked because it matches President Barack Obama’s salary. Employees’ base pay would be unaffected.

“There is an outcry out there,” said Boxer. “People are hurting from the residual effects of Wall Street … This bill is symbolic, but it’s real.”

Boxer estimated that up to $10 billion could be generated from the bill, which would be dedicated to reducing the federal deficit. She emphasized that TARP assistance was only a portion of the assistance that the major financial firms received, along with asset guarantees and low-interest loans.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/79751-boxer-webb-take-aim-at-wall-street-bonuses

[Vidar]

1. Good for Boxer & Webb.

[mbperrin]

2. Fair enough. nt

[Cass]

3. Good. K&R

[truedelphi]

4. All in all, I see Grayson as having the strongest stand against the Banksters

It would be nice to stop the bonuses and it would be nice that if the bonuses are not stopped, then the Federal Government tax them.

But the real problem is not the bonuses, it is that as much as 14 Trillion has been handed over to the top Banksters, and We the People are not allowed to even know who got what and when and what they did with it.

On edit: While I applaud Webb and Boxer, I applaud Grayson even louder. He speaks out about the heart of the problem, not the marginal situations.

[Zomby Woof]

5. I love Boxer

And this is why I like Webb. On economic/labor issues, he sides with us. I applaud them for working together on this.

[davidwparker]

6. That's good, Webb. However, I didn't see your name in the list of those

who voted against Bernanke. I don't remember seeing Warner, either.

I don't feel my phone call to both of your offices was a waste, but things like that makes it difficult for me to turn out for you on election day.

[FreakinDJ]

7. It Needs to do MORE

The ability of Corporate Board Rooms to wipe out a company's profits by paying ridiculously exorbitant bonuses needs to be curtailed forever.

[wordpix]

8. good, although I'd tax them higher